UK incoming passenger quarantine

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Question (previously) asked "Quarantine for AIR passengers - what about ferries and Eurostar?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52610594

Passengers arriving from France will be exempt from forthcoming UK^▸ (United Kingdom) coronavirus quarantine measures.

Boris Johnson said on Sunday the rules would be imposed on people coming into the UK, to prevent Covid-19 being brought in from overseas.

As yet, no start or end date for the measures has been announced.

The government has already indicated that people arriving from the Republic of Ireland will not be made to go into quarantine.

However, the measures will apply to UK holidaymakers returning from other destinations.

Travel industry analysts said that meant a one-week or two-week holiday abroad would be followed by another two weeks in self-isolation.

Eurostar and most ferry arrivals are from France - so there is your answer.    Not sure if the Harwich / Hook ferry is running at the moment, or East Coast to Zeebrugge / Ostende, or anything to Bilbao / Santander?

[Electric train]

Question (previously) asked "Quarantine for AIR passengers - what about ferries and Eurostar?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52610594

Passengers arriving from France will be exempt from forthcoming UK^▸ (United Kingdom) coronavirus quarantine measures.

Boris Johnson said on Sunday the rules would be imposed on people coming into the UK, to prevent Covid-19 being brought in from overseas.

As yet, no start or end date for the measures has been announced.

The government has already indicated that people arriving from the Republic of Ireland will not be made to go into quarantine.

However, the measures will apply to UK holidaymakers returning from other destinations.

Travel industry analysts said that meant a one-week or two-week holiday abroad would be followed by another two weeks in self-isolation.

Eurostar and most ferry arrivals are from France - so there is your answer.    Not sure if the Harwich / Hook ferry is running at the moment, or East Coast to Zeebrugge / Ostende, or anything to Bilbao / Santander?

So someone from the UK drives catches a train from Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg ete etc into France and then travels into the UK how is it going to be "policed" at our boarder as the persons point of origin will be unknown …………...

[eXPassenger]

At the moment you can only enter France if you are French or can provide an important reason for entry.

[Bmblbzzz]

employers would expect that 2 weeks isolation to be taken as holiday or unpaid

Not necessarily, I had to self-isolate for 7 days in mid-March for a week, and the rest of my family under the same roof for 14. Nobody stopped working.

That was then, moving forward into the "new normal" employers may take a different view

Surely this is going to depend on whether your job can be done from wherever you're in quarantine? If quarantine is interpreted to mean 'stay at home' and you can work from home, all good. If it means actual quarantine* in isolation from others, with medical and social oversight, such as healthcare facility or requisitioned hospital, then less likely. Both Cyprus and NZ, to my random knowledge, have implemented the latter; those are just the ones I happen to have heard of personally, must be many others. But in UK^▸ (United Kingdom) it would quite likely mean 'stay at home', judging by our implementations so far.

*But wouldn't that be for 40 days not 14? 

[stuving]

*But wouldn't that be for 40 days not 14? 

Fortunately we don't really have that problem. The French do, of course since "quarantaine" does still mean about forty, as well as its English meaning which applies for any duration. With 14 days being the norm now, the word "quatorzaine" has gained some currency. This word existed in the past, for two weeks (in some sense), but is no longer in use.

But you may remember that "quinzaine" already exists, being the normal word for two weeks (and for about fifteen). This duplication has been noted as a bit peculiar.

[grahame]

Less than a week to the 14 day quarantine being introduced and ... from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Coronavirus: Ministers 'looking at ways to relax travel quarantine rule'

The government is looking at ways to relax the 14-day quarantine rule for people entering the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) over coming months, BBC Newsnight has learnt.

From Monday, most people arriving by plane, ferry or train - including UK nationals - must self-isolate.

But some MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) and businesses have expressed concern at the plan, warning it will damage the travel industry.

One government source told Newsnight that ministers were looking at ways around the coronavirus quarantine. This could include travel corridors to countries with low infection rates, or expanding the list of workers who are exempt from the 14-day rule.

Any changes would be guided by the science but one possible date for a relaxation to the rule could be 20 July, coinciding with school holidays, Newsnight was told.

It does strike me as - err - slightly odd that we are looking to quarantine nearly all arrivals from next Monday when the UK Coronavirus rates now appear to be an order of magnitude higher than most other countries that people will be arriving from.    Not saying it's a bad thing to - but worldwide it would seem far more logical to quarantine people going out from the UK than coming in - certainly in relation to our near neighbours in Europe.

At the weekend, former environment secretary Theresa Villiers told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour she thought quarantine rules should be targeted on flights "from Covid hotspots".

The cynic in me suggests, then, that people coming off internal flights should be quarantined ...

[Electric train]

The cynic in me suggests, then, that people coming off internal flights should be quarantined ...

My theory is the scientific advisors are suggesting to Ministers if the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) is allowed on mass to exodus the UK for 2 weeks in the sun; the under 30 (ish) will party hard at packed night clubs with people for other parts of world etc, families children will mix an mingle and adults will generally socially interact in bars and restaurants.

All of this risks bringing back new infections.

The cynic in me is telling me that most of the quarantine requirements will be lifted on the 1st September

[Surrey 455]

I do not understand all the talk of "air bridges". Their promoters imply that we can get a deal to travel to countries that have low infection rates. My view is why would any country want to do a deal with us. We are now more likely to infect their citizens than the other way round.

[Electric train]

I do not understand all the talk of "air bridges". Their promoters imply that we can get a deal to travel to countries that have low infection rates. My view is why would any country want to do a deal with us. We are now more likely to infect their citizens than the other way round.

Simple tourists = lots of money being spent

[MVR S&T]

Now France (BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)) and the Netherlands (Sky News on Planet Rock radio).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53773914